Lattes over Love
by Cerasis
Summary: (coffee shop AU) Jean takes up a summer job at a local San Francisco Coffee shop to have something to fill his day. Little does he know that the shop will become the new favorite hangout of a local gang known for leading assaults on wanted criminals. And it all takes a turn for the worst when another more popular shop, "Titan's" opens up across the street.
1. Chapter 1

You know what sucks? _Summer_ sucks. It sucks when you see everyone's instagram, facebook, tumbler or whatever full of beach pictures and others hanging out with each other while you are, well, alone. This summer however would have the most cliche twist on my life imaginable. It turned out so well, that I want to tell you all to never give up. Things get better. Lonely people get friends and you won't have to be alone. You find things you aren't looking for because usually they just come to you. So this is the story of how the thing I needed most in my life found me. In a shitty coffee shop in San Francisco.

* * *

"Jean...Jean!"

Jean broke his daydream to turn to the source of the yelling. His boss, Eren, was holding a pack of paper coffee cups giving him an angry glare that Jean realized later was just his face.

"Yeah, what?"

"Take these cups and stack them on the counter with the others." Eren said handing over the stacks to Jean.

"Kay..."

Jean started this job because he had absolutely nothing better to do. In past summers he would just lie around watching Netflix and hoping for something to happen. As usual it never did. It was only this year he found out that if you want something to happen you have to actually do stuff. Which is why he took this job at the "Latte Legion" (the fucking stupidest name for any coffee shop out there, courtesy of Eren) or L.L for short. It was located on Powell street, squished in between a bookstore and what we've always assumed was an office but now we think it also might be a gang hideout or a salon, no one really knows.

The shop itself has been renovated five or six times in its lifespan. It started out as a victorian house but then in the 70's the owner decided to make it more "retro" and tore down the first floor front wall, rebuilding it to be the ugliest piece of crap in existence. The next owner realized its ugliness, tore down half of it and put in a big window that pokes out and a new high counter for the baristas. The third owner was a deadbeat and did nothing but add fucking potted plants and trees everywhere out front. The fourth owner in the 90's had a 20's obsession and added a stage for a jazz band and about 15 different lighting fixtures. That's when the cafe was at its best, when it wasn't called fucking Latte Legion and it had nights where it would be packed with a band and dancers. Sad thing is it all went downhill from there after the fourth owner died. The fifth and sixth owners only ever did small things like painting the walls and letting spider webs collect. They could only keep the shop for a short amount of time before they gave up on it and the customers stopped coming. That's when Eren Jeager bought it. He's sat on a pile of his dad's cash without knowing what to do with it and the end result is that he buys a cafe. Of course. So it was left this Two story mismatched building. The top floor almost untouched and still victorian and the bottom now just a standard coffee shop. Business is average. Coffee is average. Life is average.

"Hey horse face, if you have time to contemplate life you have time to earn minimum wage."

"Yeah whatever boss."

There were four people working here. Eren, who manages, Armin and Sasha, who mix the drinks, and Jean who works the cash register. They were all around the same age. Armin was the youngest at 16, Jean and Sasha were 18, and Eren was 20.

"Eren...you should be nicer to your employees..." Armin turned from his position in front of the bean grinder to glance at Eren who was now washing mugs in the sink.

"Personally, I've always enjoyed the horse jokes." Sasha poured cream into a cup then stuck a lid on it, handing it to a customer.

Jean didn't have time to retort as another customer approached the counter. He turned to her with a smile smacked on his face.

"What can I get you?"

"umm...I'll have a large mocha."

"Alright, that'll be $4.50"

This was how things worked around here. Jean would turn around and call out to Sasha the drink if she didn't already know it already. She or Armin would make it. They'd hand it to Jean, Jean would hand it to the customer. And Eren...he doesn't really do much.

"One large mocha right?" Sasha asked as she began taking syrups from the shelf while Armin poured some coffee into a large cup. It was finished off with cream, chocolate syrup, sugar, and cocoa powder. When it was handed back to Jean he placed a lid on it, called out the customers name and handed it to her.

"Hey guys..." They all heard Eren say from behind them.

"What is it Eren?" Jean turned from the register. Business was slow today and they were free to mingle as they pleased.

"You know what we should add to the store?" Eren remarked excitedly, running down the stairs that lead to the upper story. Jean has never been up there, it was where Eren was crashing presently. He didn't know why but he assumed it was because of a fight.

"You can't go one day without a new idea can you?" Sasha mindlessly stirred a cup of tea, her head in her palm as she stood by the counter.

"Hey, I have some really good ideas."

"None better than Latte Legion." Jean's comment was met with snickering from Armin and Sasha and a slightly more unpleasant expression from Eren.

"That name is revolutionary, and don't forget I'm paying you." Eren continued into the rest of the shop. "No, I say we order our own, customary, STICKERS."

"...Stickers"

"You know when you go to the bakery and they pack up your pastries in that little white box and then stick their own shop's sticker on it, I think that's adorable I want it."

"You want us to stick stickers...on coffee." Armin replied

"Yes."

"Dude, this isn't a bakery." Jean looked skeptically towards Eren who only moved to lean against the counter next to Sasha.

"It doesn't have to be a bakery, there's no law that only bakery's can have ownership of stickers."

"Eren."

They all looked towards Sasha who spoke his name seriously. Lifting her head dramatically she spoke.

"Imagine. You walk into a coffee shop. It's early, before work. You're eyes are still boogery, your brain not quite awake. You see a freakin weird looking coffee shop and since your sense of reason is a bit off you decide 'eh, why not.' so you step inside. The store smells of cabbage and sweat, still you persevere. The menu is extensive, it hurts your head. You decide something simple. A plain and easy cup of coffee. That's all you want. It's all you've ever wanted. You walk to the register, the cashier has a horse face, and it disturbs you a bit. You try to ignore it and just order your coffee. Part of you just wants to leave but you finally do it, you say the words 'small coffee.' You pay the amount. The deed is done. Now you only wait, wait for the one thing you came here for. After awhile your name is called out. You jump to your feet, your time has come. You walk up to the counter, your lips swollen, tears in your eyes. You reach to grab the plain cup of coffee. Something is wrong. Your hands wrap around the cup, but something is there. You can feel the sensation of it on your fingers. It is sickening, but what is it? You turn your coffee cup to find the source, and there plastered on the side of it is a sticker, a sticker with the worlds 'Latte Legion' written on it. Your hand clasps to your mouth. It is so wrong. Why? Why is this happening? Unable to keep the coffee in your grasp you drop it and cry out into the heavens. The world has forsaken you. You journey has ended. You have failed... and all because of the sticker on the side of the plastic infused coffee cup."

"...What the fuck Sasha."

* * *

And so the day continues. When his shift ends at 2:00 pm Jean hangs up his apron in the back and says goodbye to Sasha and Armin. Eren usually gives him an insult of some sort on his way out.

His home is close enough to walk to, about 20 minutes away. Enough to get him to wake up in the morning but not so much that he is exhausted once returning.

He walked up the sidewalk towards his house, one which like all the others was squished in a row with stairs leading up to the door. His was a light blue and had bright roses growing in pots on the porch and under the windows.

Jean's keys jingled in his hands as he trudged up the steps, breathing in the warm summer air. Shoving them into the lock he opened the door.

No-one would be home except for him, as his mother would get back at 5. He walked into the empty house wondering what to do next as he always did.

Routinely he changed his work clothes and threw on some basketball shorts and a shirt. For a moment he just stood in his hallway without the lights turned on, thinking what was next. If he hadn't had his job he would be doing this all day, waiting, wondering. He eventually just walked into the kitchen, made himself some tea (with enough sugar to be unsafe) and got out some chips.

Since his mom wasn't home he sat in the living room and watched Netflix on the T.V until she got there.

"Jean-y!" He heard his mother's voice called out from the door after she unlocked it. It was plenty bright outside, being summer and all. It didn't feel like it was already 5. "You have a good day sweetie?" She asked while walking into the living room and collapsing in the armchair next to him.

"Hey Mama." Jean answered. "You wanna know how today went?"

She turned her head tiredly to look at him. "How?"

"Well it started off average you know, but then Eren introduced 'coffee stickers' like the ones at bakeries, and we all knew it was a stupid idea, but Sasha replied with this huge monologue that made absolutely no sense, and they are so weird they are all so weird."

"...You like them though don't you."

"...yeah."

She continued talking while she unlaced her sneakers and kicked them to the floor. "Well there are two options for dinner tonight." Her first sneaker dropped to the ground and she slipped her sock off after it. "We could have leftover pasta from...how long ago was that?"

"It's been like a few weeks Mom."

"Ok, ew. Nevermind, one option for dinner. Chinese takeout!"

"Yeay!" Jean loved when they got Chinese, it meant relaxing instead of cooking and movies instead of dishwashing.

"But only if you go get it, otherwise it's precarious pasta night."

"Maaaaaaamaaaaaa….."

She only turned her head to look at him. Her eyebrows raised.

"...fine."

She gave him some money for the food and he set off. There were a few restaurants close to them. A Mexican place (which was the closest), the Chinese restaurant, and an Indian place that always looked super shifty and there were always people in there giving him a death stare when he used their lot for parking to go to the convenience store near by.

He walked in the afternoon sunlight with his keys jingling in his pocket. A car or person would pass him by occasionally. It was a slow day and warmer than usual for San Francisco. He didn't have to wear his usual hoody to survive, but he did anyway. He had it since he was a high school sophomore, navy colored with a cat face on it. His best friend got it for him as a joke that year but surprise surprise, Jean loved it.

He took some time to breath as he walked. He always had to make sure to do that, breath. He'd had trouble these past years with anxiety attacks and panic. Some of them were results of hypochondria some were just because of this anxiety thing he'd get where he'd strongly believe everyone around him was dying and were going to leave him alone. It was at its height last year, but recently has gotten much better. He helped it with meditation, medication, and as his therapist had him do, keeping a journal. He didn't go to therapy anymore after he told his mom he stopped needing it when he was taken off his meds. Doctors he went to always had a lot of trouble explaining where it came from and they decided it was mostly related to PTSD. Though Jean had no past traumatic experiences as proof. His life had been happy. It was like he had suddenly fallen into a pit when he was 15, when it all started. He had nightmares about crazy things, watching all the people around him being murdered. He didn't mention the dreams to any doctors.

Right now though, he was content. He thanked that partially to the coffee shop, it kept him busy, kept his mind occupied.

He walked in the noise of the streets at a relaxed steady pace until he reached the restaurant.

The bells that hung over the red painted door jingled when he pushed it open. As he entered the shop he was met by warm welcomes from the workers there who were now very familiar with Jean and his Mom as they'd been getting takeout there for years.

"So good to see you Jean!" Lily, who worked the check-out counter most days greeted him warmly as he walked up to place his order.

"Good to see you too."

"So that'll be the usual dishes won't it?"

"Yep."

He was seated in the waiting area on a red bench, a television raised in the corner showing the news of the day. With nothing else to do Jean watched it, surprised at what he was hearing.

"Several members of a street gang were found lying unconscious in the back of a supermarket dumpster just this morning." The footage showed an image of the store and pictures of bruised and beaten guys, lying unconscious. "And it was later discovered that these boys were the ones responsible for the recent stabbing incident involving two teenage girls just last week that resulted in one hospitalization and one death."

"Bitches, serves 'em right!" Benny, one of the waiters commented at the screen before returning to work.

"Hey you watch your language!" Lily eyed him as he scooted away, then turned her attention back at the screen.

"What was most curious is the mark engraved on both of their upper backs, which we have reason to believe represents another gang, the ones who left them in this state."

An image of one of the boys' backs popped up on the screen, a bloody symbol drawn in their skin,and another picture showed a redrawing of the engraving. Two crossed wings in a pentagon. It was an interesting design, but it left the hairs on the back of Jean's neck standing up. Before he had time to think anymore about it his order was called up.

"Take care on your way home Jean." Lily remarked her eyes flickering back to the screen.

"Don't worry, I'll be perfectly safe."

"I hope so."

Jean didn't think much anymore about the footage from T.V after that. He returned home as leisurely just as he came. Breathing. Seeing. And after he shared the Chinese food with his mom and they watched a movie, he prepared for the next day.

* * *

Jean woke up the next morning groggy. He groaned at the sound of his alarm and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Work. Bleh. To wake himself up a little he hopped in the shower, washing up from a strangely sweaty sleep. He used to only get like this with nightmares, but he was thankful that he didn't have one that night.

It was early for summer and Jean didn't really feel quite hungry for breakfast yet. Instead he just made himself a cup of tea (he was sick of coffee), deciding he could eat at the shop.

After he finished he got dressed in his usual jeans and the uniform black collared shirt. Nothing special passed on his mind. It was the 22nd of June, he was off to work, he was off to life. Nothing unusual, as always, as forever.

Before he left he grabbed his jacket. San Francisco's weather was being normal today and a cold wind blew in from the bay. One which would send chills up your arms if it hit your bare skin.

He plopped his wallet and keys into his pocket the pushed open his front door.

After he closed it he stood on his porch and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. Then began to walk down the front staircase onto the sidewalk, making his way to his job.

This particular morning would prove to be much quieter than usual and the streets were void of the people that always filled it. At the time Jean thought nothing of it. It was Saturday morning, he assumed people were just tired and wanted to stay in. It was when he reached Latte Legion that things got weird.

The store's street which was usually pretty much abandoned in the morning was bustling full of people. Jean thought that there might've been a street fair going on, or that some store was having an event. It wasn't an obscene amount of people, an estimate of about 40 but enough to be surprising. When walking further in he noticed that the people weren't very ordinary. Most had tattoos of some sort and almost all had large firm muscles. Their style's didn't match at all with most people looking punk rock, some hipsters, and others looking almost gothic. Weird. But what was weirder is where they were coming from.

As Jean approached the shop he noticed a line of them coming out and moving into Latte Legion.

He pushed his way through the people (who were actually frightening close up) and squeezed into L.L.. Inside there were people occupying every chair in the place. He glanced over at the counter and saw Eren, Sasha, and Armin frantically mixing drinks and taking orders. Once Eren spotted Jean he sighed a feeling of relief and shouted at him to come over.

When Jean reached behind the counter he was finally able to ask what exactly was going on.

"No fucking clue, no fucking clue." Was Eren's response. Sasha also shook her head slightly and continued mixing drinks with all her power. Armin however, actually had something to say. He looked over at Jean and nodded his head, gesturing at him to come closer.

"I wasn't so sure at first but now I'm pretty confident I can say that all these people…" He glanced around anxiously as if someone was listening in, "are in a gang."

"A WHAT-"

"SHHHHH, keep your voice down I don't think they want us to know."

"Armin this is serious shit I don't think-"

"It's not like that, you want to know how I found out?"

"How?"

"Look at the tattoo on the red hed hipster on the barstool."

Jean craned his neck and tried as discreetly as he could to peek at the man. He had various tattoos, all in black ink. One of them however was colored, and when the man turned a bit it was in Jean's full view. Two wings, one white and one blue crossed each other in a pentagon on the man's shoulder. It looked familiar and after a little while Jean's eyes widened with realization.

"That's the gang that beat up the stabbers!" Jean whispered strongly as he turned back to Amrin.

"You saw that news broadcast too?"

"Yeah."

Sasha paid no attention to them but Eren's angry face came on as he yelled at them to "take orders or take their lives." Causing Armin and Jean to shuffle to their stations and begin work. "Jean you take over the register." Eren shouted at him above the chatter.

Jean nodded and walked to the other side of the counter taking his place at the register.

The people ordered their drinks as toughly as they looked. Jean suspected they weren't doing it on purpose, its just who they were. Some interesting ones included a Japanese girl with short black hair and defined abs peeking out of her crop top, a leather jacket almost covering up all her tattoos though they peeked out at her wrists and chest. Another was a short platinum blond who seemed entirely sweet and innocent except for the large skull tattoo covering her neck.

He lost track of particular things about them as he went through so many one by one. The question was never answered as to why they were there or where they came from, but one thing was for certain, they didn't seem to be hiding who they were at all. Most had the crossed wings tattoo in a very obvious place and they did nothing to cover it. Not to mention showing up in a large group like this...they made themselves pretty obvious.

As time passed more and more of the mysterious gang members left, only leaving spots of them here and there. No one was coming up at the moment so Jean, Armin, Sasha, and Eren all had time to rest.

"You think someone paid them to be here?" Sasha inquired as she slumped down on a stool in front of the blender. Eren didn't even retort to that, he looked like he was thinking about it as well.

"Most likely it will just be a one time thing. Stuff like this is bound to happen once in a while." Eren decided. It sounded very reasonable and everyone sort of nodded, accepting that as the final answer.

Jean was turned around, leaning against the counter in front of the register when he heard a voice call out to him from behind. Swiftly he turned, apologizing for not paying attention.

He looked up and noticed the person standing right there.

He was tall, the color of the mochas that they sold there; darker freckles dotting his face. Brown hair that parted in the middle swept aside to give full view of his black eyes. He was smiling.

"A cup of mint tea please."

Jean felt he was in the presence of someone beautiful and suddenly felt very self conscious. He himself was a long faced weirdo with a two colored undercut. And this dude...well this dude was ...not fair, that's what he was. Unfairly attractive.

"Got it." Jean said quietly and rung up the order. When the man reached out to pay Jean noticed the winged tattoo on his wrist. He was also one of them. But he seemed so much calmer, and he never stopped smiling. Jean didn't stop himself when he asked. "What were you guys all doing here today?"

The man laughed a bit, "about time someone asked."

"Really?"

"We were wondering when it was going to be, but no one asked, of course until now."

"So why is it?"

"Well...no offense but we noticed the shop was basically abandoned."

"None taken, we noticed it too."

The man laughed, "Well we thought it would be perfect for us, we don't like popular places, people stare too much."

"Stare at your wing tattoo?"

The man didn't smile. Jean wished he hadn't said it.

But then the man lifted up his wrist to show the wings, and began rubbing it. Bits of it fell off or were rubbed away as he did so. "This? This is fake." The man smiled again.

"All of them are fake?"

"Yeah, we don't want a permanent identifier."

"So then what's its purpose?"

The man thought. "For fun."

Jean laughed "Pshhhh, and here I thought you were some part of a deadly gang."

The man just chuckled along with him.

"I think some of us might come back here."

"Really?"

"Yep, lots of us liked it, though most of us don't go to the same place twice. I think I will though."

They both turned when they heard Armin call out, "regular mint tea!"

The man pivoted and went to pick up his drink. On his way out as he passed Jean, he made one more comment.

"Don't worry, we're not a deadly gang, we're a gentle one."

And then he left.


	2. Chapter 2

That night after Jean went to bed he had another dream. In it he was surrounded by shapes. Shapes? Maybe people. He wasn't so sure. But suddenly the shapes cleared away like mist and they left behind a puddle. When Jean looked in it, he had no reflection. And from behind him he heard someone say, "you're not deadly, you're gentle." A face appeared in the water. It belonged to the man in the coffee shop he met the other day. Jean knew it was him even though the face on the puddle was warped. Before he could say anything, he woke up. He wished he could have said something.

At the end of his shift the day before, when the shop was all cleared out and empty, Armin and Jean gave a breakdown to the rest, of who the strangers were. They mentioned the news report, how they had fake tattoos, and the man Jean had spoken with earlier.

"Do you think we should call the cops?" Sasha asked sounding slightly worried.

"You think they would directly tell us who they were if they felt threatened by police?" Jean wondered aloud. He truly didn't believe these people were harmful, but really how was he to know?

"I think Jean is right. I think we should wait awhile. If we find out they are bad eggs or whatever then we'll call, if not then they can do whatever they want." Eren replied leaning against the counter, his arms crossed, deep in thought. He just bought this coffee shop, he didn't want to lose it so soon like all the others.

So the decision was made that the mysterious group of people were harmless for now, and would be treated like regular customers unless deemed a danger to society.

But Jean couldn't get them out of his head. It was far too interesting to ignore. When he got home he thought a lot before he went to the living room, opened up his laptop, and decided just to google search them. But what was he supposed to look up even? "San Francisco gang not very know, beat up like one stabber and gentle?" No. He decided to just search "crossed wings."

Nothing.

"Two colored wings."

Nothing.

"Two colored crossed wings"

Not anything.

"...gentle wings?"

Not quite.

There must have been a specific name to it, but Jean had absolutely no idea. He tried several things, most of which were absolutely idiotic. "Super wings" , "Gang wings", "Wings of gang", "bicolored bird appendages." He must've tried about 30 different things, but he was very curious, and very persistent. He tried to think hard about wings and what they represent. He figured a gang that seems really hipster and punk at the same time would probably have some deep sort of meaning for it, but the best thing Jean could come up with is "gentle Jesus wings."

It was something he had to give up on even though he really didn't want to. He was so intent on finding something he didn't even notice that his mom was already home and watching him as he typed.

"Whats so interesting on that technology of yours?" She asked skeptically.

"What do you think?"

"It's not porn is it?"

"Yes, it is Mother. Right now I'm sporting a massive erection and I wanted to come into the living room especially for my mom to see it."

"That's disgusting don't tell your friends about this conversation." She said as she pushed herself up from the couch and walked to the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?"

"Pasta."

"Mom we had this conversation, that pasta will kill us."

"NEW pasta."

"...Oh that sounds good."

Life went on that night, as it usually does you know? Jean couldn't even remember what he did to occupy his time until it suddenly became 7:00. He should be going out into town with people or something cool, but no. Here he was. He had a license, so technically he could borrow his mom's car and go out on his own. What fun would that be though? Going out by yourself. Jean just really felt like doing something, right then, right away. He wanted to go with someone but at the same time he didn't think he could call any of his friends, or the few of them that existed anyways. Where would he even go?

Usually when he got feelings like this he ignored them, but this time was different. He wasn't really thinking about what he was doing, he just grabbed his phone and dialed the first number that came to his mind. He didn't realize it until it was too late.

"This is Eren, who is this?"

God damnit Eren, did he not have caller ID?

"...it's Jean."

"Well shit, the world must be falling apart for you to call me."

"Maybe not the world but I think my mind is, yeah why the fuck did I call you Jeager?"

"How should I know horse face?"

"...do you wanna go out?" There was a pause on the other side.

"Look Jean I know I swing that way, but I think when it comes to you, you're like a whole other gender I'm not attracted to."

"Oh my god Eren that's not even what I'm asking, I meant go out as in like around town you know?"

"Oh thank god, ok...well...yeah? Yeah. Sure I'm not doing anything."

"Cool."

"Cool."

"I'll come get you in a little."

"Ok, wait where are we-"

Jean hung up before he realized that Eren was asking a question. He was going to hang out...with Eren. He'd made better decisions in his life. Also there was the thing about where the hell they were going.

Jean kept his laptop open and just went onto google maps. Where to go in San Francisco….There was plenty shifty areas to go, and plenty of tourist attractions. He wanted to stay away from pier 39 and that whole area actually. So many people visited it constantly but Jean never found anything in it interesting. He didn't want to go into chinatown or really Japantown for that matter. You know what did sound good? The Italian district. North Beach.

He didn't even think of a specific location in North Beach, he just grabbed his keys and went to knock on his mom's bedroom door before he left.

"Come in." He heard her call from her computer chair.

"Hey, I'm gonna head out for awhile."

"Well that's rare."

"I'll see you soon."

"Wait a minute, there's guidelines for this stuff. No drugs, no spontaneous nudity, and no gangs, got it?" She smiled as if all those things were obviously avoidable.

Jean just wasn't so sure about the last one, and spontaneous nudity? What did that even mean?

"Got it Mama."

"See you later Jeany."

Jean grabbed his wallet and got into the car and began driving over to the coffee shop where Eren was currently residing. It was weird being over there at this time, as he only worked during the day. Jean just pulled up on the curb and texted Eren who then came out the front door. Jean didn't know why he and Eren had always found themselves bickering and fighting, but they just found each other irritating, and they were okay with that.

"So where we headed?." He asked when he slipped into the passenger seat.

"North Beach."

"Alright, any reason why?"

"I don't know."

"You're just all full of surprises today aren't you."

"I'm not sure, but I do know that all I need is to go somewhere."

The drive over there was silent and awkward. Jean regretted his decision of calling Eren. He should've just texted Connie from school, or even Armin or Sasha. He guessed he called Eren because he was older, and for some reason that made Jean more comfortable having someone older with him. He always felt so little, even at 18.

They pulled up on a safe looking street just a short walk into North Beach. When they parked and got out they started their trek into the shops and restaurants.

"Anywhere in specific we're headed to?" Eren questioned looking at the stores ahead.

"Nope."

"You really think ahead don't you."

There were dozens of Italian restaurants in North Beach. Most were at their busy point right now. The sun hadn't yet set and it was still dinner time, the lights of the places were lit and you could see people laughing and eating through the windows. It looked so nice and peaceful. Jean wasn't so sure if he was looking for peaceful right now. Then again he didn't know what he was looking for at all.

"Come on let's walk around this way." Jean said pointing to another street.

They walked in silence. In a way it was weird but it was also kind of ok with Jean, he liked it. Eren didn't.

"Aren't we supposed to have some sort of conversation while we walk?"

Jean paused. "Isn't that something friends do?"

"And I'm not your friend you horse?"

"No, Eren, you are my boss."

Eren processed this a bit. "Well then let's have a chat then, employee to boss."

Great, Jean thought. He knew he would never get fired because Eren would have plenty hard time finding someone to take his place, but he could still be punished.

"I'm just going to tell you a long dramatic story about my past." Eren declared, looking straight ahead as he did so. Knowing Eren, the story would most likely not be that long, or very dramatic, but Jean just shut up and listened all the same.

"One day, long ago. Well it was like six years ago. I was 15, and just got my first job working at a coffee shop, which is ironic isn't it? Started out that way gonna end that way. It was a family owned business, my mom dad and sister all worked there."

Jean had met Eren's adopted sister, Mikasa. She was intensely beautiful and Jean had had a crush on her a bit back, but she flat out turned him down. She really only cared about Armin and Eren, if you asked Jean she even had a thing for Eren too, even if he doesn't swing that way.

"So it was a pretty good business we had a lot of customers, anyhoo, one day…" Eren's voice just got a little bit angry as he continued. "The day HUMANITY WOULD NEVER FORGET."

"Alright easy there Eren, breathe." Jean consoled his over-reacting boss with a pat on the back.

"Anyways…" Eren said collecting his thoughts. "This man came in, he wanted to buy the shop. I don't know his name except that he was huge, at least 6 foot 3. When we rejected him he went all bezerk and starting kicking the walls and scaring our customers, it was a mess"

"Geez." Jean commented.

"To make matters even worse." Eren's voice grew more upset. "Business was slow, customers stopped coming until...we were forced to sell."

Jean looked at him, surprised.

"He came by on the last day with some friends to 'check out the new territory.' It was on that fateful day the unthinkable happened."

"What?"

"One of them spilled hot coffee all over my mother's legs."

"No."

"Yes."

"Was it on purpose?"

"Who knows, it could have been. My mother ended up in emergency with severe burns, and we couldn't do anything to sue or whatnot because it was still our coffee shop, and our coffee! THOSE JERKS." Eren found himself yelling again and quieted down.

"...Well how is she now?" Jean inquired. He hadn't exactly asked for Eren's tragic backstory but at least it filled the silence.

"Fine actually, she lives with my father in Noe valley now."

"We'll that's good."

"Yeah..." Eren paused thinking, probably thinking about his parents. He looked sort of sad. "We went by our old coffee shop a while later, it was turned into some place called Titan's, and they were a cafe too. It doesn't make sense."

"...Life in general doesn't make any sense," Jean said as he sighed.

"You're right, it doesn't." Eren smiled, they were getting somewhere.

Jean hadn't noticed exactly where they were walking during the conversation and their feet had seemed to carry them to a very much darker part of North Beach that Jean couldn't remember ever seeing before. It wasn't necessarily sketchy looking, but it was quiet. Still, lights lit it up all the same.

"I hope you're not taking me to some alley so you can mug me and take my kidneys." Eren remarked as he looked skeptically at the stores on the street.

"I know you're broke." Jean replied absently, examining the window of a dimly lit bar that held tons of posters taped onto it. It must've been been a popular place, tons of small time band advertisements were announcing their gigs at the place and other advertisements stuck out behind them. Some were so obscure Jean had no idea what relevance they had for the bar. He was about to turn when something caught his eye. It was unbelievable. Almost hidden between two large posters was a small paper cut-out of a pair of blue and white wings.

"We're going in here." Jean declared already pushing open the door.

"Wait what?" Eren said as he followed Jean as he walked into the bar.

Inside was dimly lit, the counter off to the right, small tables and chairs placed randomly to the left. All around the walls were posters of bands and newspaper articles. It was empty as well except for the bartender who stood reading a paper behind the counter. He was very tall and muscular and had blond hair styled and parted in a way that looked like he was from the 1940's.

Jean wasn't so sure what he was hoping to accomplish by entering a place that only vaguely advertised the mysterious gang. It was too much of a coincidence that two encounters with it would appear in the same day. Jean was thinking about how it might be fate or some shit like that, when the bartender spoke up.

"What can I do for you boys?"

Jean turned towards him suddenly very aware of the fact that he was only 18, and, well, in a bar. Eren began to speak up from behind him.

"I'll have a beer," he said moving to sit on one of the red bar-stools lined in front of the counter. The bartender asked to see I.D. and Eren flipped open his wallet which the bartender examined before tossing him a beer.

Jean moved to sit next to Eren, eyeing him skeptically. "I thought you were 20."

"Yeah, well, you may not remember my birthday, which happened a little while back, I am in fact 21."

"Oh, right." They sat in silence for a little while, not an awkward silence this time, just silence. Jean couldn't stop thinking about the wings in the window. He thought he might ask, but he also thought the bartender might not even know what he would be talking about. He thought about it enough that the words slipped out of his mouth before he could catch them.

"T-the wings…"

"What was that?" the bartender turned and looked towards Jean who was suddenly very aware that he just might look like an idiot. Oh well, no turning back now.

"The umm...I noticed the blue and white crossed wings at the front of your shop, is that…"

"...The wings of freedom?" The bartender smiled and walked over to where they sat. Eren looked over at Jean, watching the conversation.

The wings of freedom, so that's what it was called. "Y-yeah."

The bartender paused, looking at them both. "Why didn't you say so earlier I thought you two were just random customers."

Eren and Jean glanced at each other.

The bartender kept his smile and pointed to a staircase at the back of the shop. "Up those stairs and through the curtain on the right, you'll find it there."

Jean tried hard not to open his eyes wide at this information, he just replied with "Th-thanks."

Eren seemed equally surprised and had to elbow Jean in the side to get him to rise out of his seat. "Well then, let's go Jean."

"...R-right."

Eren leaned over him and whispered, "Stop stuttering you sound so conspicuous."

"S-sorry."

Eren eyed him angrily and Jean shut his mouth.

Endless possibilities of where they could be going filled his mind. The worst seemed to be the most prominent, like they would walk in on a satanic ritual, or a blood sacrifice, or some kind of drug dealing hostage negotiation. Jean shuddered, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea. He repeated it in his head as they creaked up the stairs and approached the curtain on the right.

"Jean." Eren spoke quietly and solidly, looking over at Jean whose hands were shaking. "You ready?"

Jean hesitated. Suddenly he spoke, "Let's do this, he said," and without hesitating yanked open the curtain.

What was inside was very anti-climatic.

It was another smaller room, empty, except for the door at the other end.

It was Eren this time who walked forward to pull the door open. He stopped when his hand was on the doorknob and looked back at Jean. Jean just nodded as his teeth clenched together.

Eren opened the door.

Inside was something that Jean had not expected. No Satanic ritual, no sacrifices, no drug dealing. It was just… hard to describe.

Instantly when the door was opened music poured out and soaked into Eren and Jean like water. It dragged them in and they couldn't remember stepping inside until they were surrounded by...well...everything.

It was an organised mess of things. The room itself was very large and had lots of space for these things to take up. At the back wall were bulletin boards, whiteboards, chalkboards, and a television right in the middle. Each one had different stuff pinned to it, scribbled on it, thrown on it, anything and everything. Jean spotted cartoons and badly proportioned drawn figures on one of the whiteboards. To the left side of the area was a raised stage that jut out into the room so it could be surrounded from three sides, a thrust stage, Jean remembered from his one year of high school theatre. It had one blue curtain at the left corner that had been stitched and painted on all over, and colorful lights bathed it and the stage, drowning out any of their original colors. A counter at the other side of the room had a woman mixing drinks behind it which later Jean found out were all smoothies, milkshakes, or unidentifiable liquids, all of which contained alcohol. Armchairs sat spread about, differing in size, shape, and color. Bookshelves towered in empty space and pictures hung wherever walls were bare. Furniture sat askew, lamps hung or stood letting off a little yellow light in the otherwise dark space...and this was just the room.

The people there were the same as the ones at the coffee shop that same day except much, much more lively. They seemed to have walked in on a party of some sort for people were everywhere crowding around the counter, the chairs, and especially the stage.

Jean barely had a second to take it all in before a person walked from behind the curtain and on to the stage. Even with the lights illuminating his face, Jean knew exactly who it was. It was the kind man he had talked to just hours earlier. And as soon as Jean realized this, the man did something unexpected. He stood still for a moment and as soon as a loud energetic song came on he ripped his pants clean off, and the revealing of his black dance spankies underneath was met with incredibly loud hooting and cheering from the audience below.

Well, Jean knew one thing. He finally understood what his mother meant by spontaneous nudity, and he had broken almost all of the rules set for him tonight.


End file.
